Axis History Forum

This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjerne’s Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day.
Founded in 1999.

I have seen Taki publish loss figures for the Japanese for specific campaigns, but are there numbers for the war as a whole as well? Does anybody have numbers for Japanese losses year by year during the war?

Hello to all ; going a little back along the timeline, here goes this report.......................

THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR. Japan strategical objectives.

Japan started military operations in Manchuria in 1931, where a state of unrest existed and, in the following year, created the new state of Manchukuo, adding to it the Chinese province of, Jehol in 1933. From that year onwards, a state of war has really existed in North China and the Japanese have steadily pushed forward towards the Great Wall, reaching Peiping in the summer of this year.

The present undeclared war between Japan and China, the greatest clash since the war of 1894-1895, had its beginning on 7 July 1937, when fighting broke out at the Marco Polo bridge, just west of Peiping. Shortly after, Japan started her campaign, which contemplated the following strategical objectives:

(1) Paralyzation of Nanking, China's symbol of Unity;
(2) Control of Shanghai, Financial Heart of China, the sixth largest city in the world and the richest trade center of the Far East;
(3) Extension of line to the Yellow River;
(4) Detachment of the five Northern Provinces, Suiyuan, Chahar, Shansi, Hopei and Shantung, with a total population of 80 millions and an area twice as large as that of Germany;
(5) Cutting off China's Communications with Outer Mongolia.

In pursuance of the above strategical plan, Japan's main effort has been in the North, in order to conquer the five northern provinces, and westward through Inner Mongolia, which she hopes to use as a shield between Sovietized Outer Mongolia and China. In the North, Japan's most important gains in three months of fighting have been, in chronological order as follows: Marco Polo Bridge, July 7; Capture of Tientsin, July 30; Peiping seized August 8; Nankow Pass, captured September 2; Paotingfu captured September 25; Yenmen Pass, October 1; Shihchiachuang, October 27.

A glance at the map shows the reason why Russia is looking on from the North in grave concern, closely watching the Far Eastern war. Japanese armies are approaching Mongolia. The Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia's main life-line to the Pacific, runs for hundreds of miles close to the frontier of Manchukuo, which has been in Japanese possession since 1931. The Japanese have long regarded Siberia's Maritime Provinces, with the great base of Vladivostock at the southern tip, as a "dagger" pointing at the heart of the Japanese Empire. From this area, Russian bombing planes might spread death and destruction in Japanese cities, and Russian submarines might attempt to sever Japan's life-line with the Asiatic mainland across the Straight of Tshushima.

Source: Military News Arodthe World. Military Review Dec 1937.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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Japan's secondary effort or "diversion" is being made in the Shanghai area. This area has been the scene of bitter fighting since 12 August, and, for three months, the desperate resistance of the Chinese army, limited the Japanese advance to seven miles. However, this resistance gradually yielded and on 27 October the Chinese retreated to the south banks of the Soochow Creek, where they have dug a new defense line, with its right resting on the International Settlement, in a maze of trenches, in the fertile truck-gardening area which usually supplies Shanghai's food. The Japanese army, victorious at Tazang and Chapei, has been reinforced and is preparing for another offensive, the immediate objective of which is the Hungjao airdrome, southwest of Shanghai.

Japanese men-of-war ring the Chinese coast in a blockade from Canton to Tientsin and Japanese planes based on the island of Formosa, on aircraft carriers, and on temporary field established on Chinese soil, have raided Chinese cities, among them: Nanking, the capital of Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist Government; Canton, the great Southern port and scores of others in the coast and in the interior.

Source: Military News Around the World. Military Review Dec 1937.

It's all folks. Cheers. Raúl M .

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The Japanese have continued their victorious drive. On 8 November, Shanghai was captured, the Chinese Army falling back on the so-called "HINDENBURG" line: FUSHAN -CHANGSU -SOOCHOW -KASHING, about 50 miles west of Shanghai and about 125 miles east of Nanking. On 16 November, the Japanese captured Soochow, keypoint of the Hindenburg line. On the 17th, Chinese Headquarters were transferred to Hankow, Changsha and Chungking, military headquarters, however, remaining at Nanking. On the 21st, the Japanese captured Wusih, situated about 25 miles northeast of Soochow, and considered one of the strongholds of the Nanking defenses. On the 23d, the Japanese land and air forces began a concerted drive against the Chinese entrenched line WUSIH-KIANGYIN, while about 70 Japanese vessels have been massed in the Yangtze River for naval cooperation with the land forces advancing toward Nanking. The Kiangyin forts and a submerged boom of concrete-laden vessels bar the way up the Yangtze River and have prevented Japanese warships from reaching China's almost deserted capital. By the 30th, Kiangyin City had fallen to Japanese columns; however, the Kiangyin forts, overlooking the Yangtze River, were stubbornly held, although outflanked and threatened with momentary capture. Reports indicate that the Chinese are falling back to the line CHINKIANG-TANYANG-KINTAN, forty to sixty miles east and southeast of Nanking, closely pursued by the Japanese Army, which continues moving on westward into the heart of China.

Source: THE SINO·JAPANESE WAR. Miitary Review. December 1937.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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On the Northern Front, the Japanese now controI the provinces of Chagar, Suiyan, Hopeh and most of Shansi. Shantung has been penetrated only to the Yellow River. On 22 November, the Japanese announced that they were preparing to cross the Yellow River to attack Tsinanfu, capital of the Shantung province, but so far the Japanese have not effected a river crossing.

Shanghai's customs and telegraph and radio stations are now in Japanese hands. Refusal of Chinese telegraphers and technicians to work under Japanese rule has paralyzed all communications, so that Shanghai remains at present isolated by radio and telegraph from the rest of China.

Source: THE SINO·JAPANESE WAR. Miitary Review. December 1937.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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According to Admiral Syetsugu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, war materials are reaching China through French Indo-China, British Hong Kong and Soviet Russia. He mentioned Great Britain, France, Russia, Czechoslavakia and Germany as the principal sources of supply. According to Japanese dispatches, arms and ammunition are being sent to China by three routes: (1) via Sinkiang and Kansu Provinces, from the Soviet Union; (2) via French IndoChina and Yunnan Province, and (3) via Hong Kong and Canton. The Chinese National Government is now planning to add another route by building a road between Burma and Yunnan.

Source: Military News Around the World. Military Review. March 1938.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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Hello to all ; a little more (and going a little backwards)............

Japanese Plan against Chengchow and Hankow in 1938.

As their next move, the invaders intend soon to advance west from Suchow, and capture Chengchow, the important junction city where the Peiping-Hankow railroad crosses the Lunghai. From Chengchow a drive would then be started south toward Hankow, which is both the Chinese government headquarters, since the fall of Nanking, and the training center for China’s new armies. Simultaneously with the thrust from Chengehow other forces would move from Wuhu to attack Hankow.

Seven armies estimated to total more than 600,000 men have been organized for this great drive against China’s provisional capital, by the capture of which Japan expects to “bring China to its knees. ”

Source: Military News Around the World. Military Review. June 1938.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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On 23 August, the Shanghai Expeditionary Army landed at the mouth of the Wangpoo River and in the area northwest thereof, destroyed the enemy stationed there and advanced to Tachangchen. It then attacked the Chinese forces in the vicinity of Shanghai but was unable to advance both because of difficult terrain and the enormous strength of the enemy. On 1 September, the Amaya Detachment was ordered to return to its original unit and, on 11 September, the following units arrived from Japan to reinforce the Shanghai Expeditionary Army:

Hello to all ; a little more...........................................

THE CONFLICT IN EAST ASIA.

[Der Konflikt in Ostasien.] Major General T. von Lerch. Review of the Sino-Japanese War from 15 June to 15 September 1940.

On 7 July 1940 the Press Section of the Imperial Japanese GHQ released a review of the Japanese successes in China during the three-year period of hostilities. The length of the battle front in China is 2,850 miles, and the area of Chinese territory under Japanese occupation totals 1,000,000 square miles, which is 2.4 times the size of Japan proper.